Love the Love!

Baby A is only (nearly) 9 weeks and friends and family are already spoiling us all with so much love and joy for our sweet bean- to- be. Books, onesies, beanie hats, flowers, blankets... you guys seriously? We feel so loved. I am so grateful for the support we've had to get here and cannot wait to see our little babe already. I know, we have a LONG way to go, but I hear it flies by. My first OB appointment with my new doc in town is this Friday. Here's to hoping I like him! I hear the appt is the full gamut so I'm sure I'll get to see and hear this nugget again which I cannot wait for. I've felt really terrible until the past few days, so I'm hoping this is heading in the right direction and I'm soon to be in the clear in regards to "hangover city". Ireland is in 16 days as I head out with my gf Allie to check off my #1 Bucket List Item; hear Van Morrison in his home town!! Total dream come true. #2 on the list was to "be a Mom" so God has certainly blessed me this year. Disclaimer: Obviously I want to be a Mom more than I want to hear Van, but this is just the order in which the list was written, ha!

Check out these hilarious (and oh so special) goodies from some of my peeps to me & Baby A so far. I love surprises in the mail! Thank you thank you!

...it sure did, Steph! ha!! Best congratulatory card ever!

Onesie from Mom (no joke it was in her purse coincidentally & the moment I told her the big surprise that we were pregnant she opens her purse, hands me this and says "oh good. So here, I got this last weekend at alumni game". Lord woman.  Beanie hat (which happens to be the exact one I wore when I cheered) from Lynn & Liz. So sweet.

Julie & Ryan (they work together) I coached gymnastics with Jules and Ryan is one of B's close friends-- love the onesie! Clearly baby A will be a Buckeye fan.

Gramma on point with the handmade blankey....

my MIL and FIL sent this sweet floral arrangement last weekend

Britt sent me some edible chocolate covered strawberries that were TO DIE... sweet card, love her!

Most touching of all was a letter I got from my favorite Nurse, Flo from the fertility center! She called to congratulate me but I didn't connect with her at any of my final appointments as it later was noted that she retired. Just couldn't work without knowing I was there ;) ha! 

So sweet having such wonderful friends and family surrounding us. I feel so blessed. Now that it's lunch hour, I'm off to do what I do best......

working from home office does NOT suck when pregnant.

xoxoox,
Andi

Mudroom Makeover

I've been feeling pretty beh as of late. All I want are carbs and food that I normally love makes me gag {unfortunately all the healthy stuff}. At 7 weeks, I'm starting to slowly ease back into some of my favorites, but the pain is real people. As I've been told, the first trimester is rough. I go to bed at 9-9:30 and wake up a good 12 hours later but it's all for a good cause. That little blueberry is working hard to develop all of it's major organs this week so it makes perfect sense as to why I'm zonked as a result. 

Mornings are best for me. The whole 'morning sickness' thing crack me up because for me it's pretty much like nursing an all day hangover. Come 5:30p is when I start to feel the worst so I try to get as much done possible in the mornings. I've been wanting to paint and organize the mudroom since we moved in 4 months ago but we've just never had the time. We have these great white built ins that would look so much better against a contrasted color so they pop. I chose this great 'medium grey' tone on a whim and did the edging while B did the rest of it. My trusty 3M mask hard at work to protect our bean from any chemicals!

Thanks B for doing all the labor!

Here are the before and after pics. I'd like to add a few more finishing touches but this is a great start. I'm really happy with how it turned out. 

light grey walls against the white built in

huge wall serving no purpose

AFTER:

additional rack to hang guests coats, bags, dogs leashes, etc

It looks so warm and welcoming now! Easy quick project that made a big difference.


xox,
Andi

GRADUATION/DISCHARGE DAY!!!

I can't quite grasp the fact yet that I have FINALLY been discharged from my RE and will be finding an OB/GYN for the rest of my pregnancy. My game plan to get through this very difficult TTC journey was to just hunker down, take each day as it comes & hope and pray that I finally reach my long awaited goal. Those days turned into weeks, and months, and somehow 2 years .....to now. We made it. It's so surreal. Here I sit, with two  beating hearts in my body and 1 developing baby in my belly with my discharge papers, free to move forward. I am SO RELIEVED to be able to be here, but it's also bittersweet as we said goodbye yesterday to all of the clinicians we have put 100% of our trust into getting us where we are today. 

CRL to the line down is the "fetal pole" measuring the babies skill to bum. Below is the second sac they found after all. Proud of my little nugget for implanting and trying hard to make it, turns out it never developed from there. They laughed and said the baby was busy eating (head is munching down on the yolk) but based upon further review of the pic, I don't think they were joking! ha! 

Hearing that heartbeat for the first time was just.....there are no words. I could have laid in that exam room for hours listening. How people don't believe in God is insane to me. How that little cell of an embryo that started as a sperm and egg has now, in only 7 short weeks, developed into a beating heart with ears and eyes and little arm/leg nubs that will stretch and grow and continue to develop? I mean, I've always understood the birds and the bees and how everything plays out for a developing fetus but it's an entirely different story when that fetus is YOURS and that heartbeat you hear on the ultrasound monitor is YOUR baby that's relying on you, inside YOUR body. I am confident in the fact that I am helping to assist God in this miracle He has created, I truly give Him all the glory.

All of my nurses and Dr. H lined up after we did all of the discharge paperwork to give us hugs and congratulate us. They all were beaming ear to ear right along with us. It was a really wonderful send off. They experience the highest of highs or the lowest of lows right along with their patients and I know that they couldn't be happier. Dr H requested I come back "with my big belly so they all could rub it", which was cute. Funny how for so long I wanted to strangle him, and now that I'm on the other side I see just how much he cares and wanted us to be successful just as much as we wanted to be. 

I feel like this huge bomb went off, and I have been stuck in the rubble for so long, unable to see through any clearing or get a deep breath of air. And now, I've crawled my way out and all I see is wide open spaces, endless rays of sunlight and hope for what's ahead. I'm so grateful to be here.

xoxo,

Andi

Bahama Trip!

The announcement with the Albright family went off without a hitch. We all met for lunch after we flew into the Bahamas for the week and I changed into my cover up and went out to the table and yelled "SURPRISE"! Everyone caught on quickly and were really happy/surprised. They definitely didn't see it coming.

We had a nice time in the sun and the beach was beautiful but i'm SO HAPPY to be home. First trimester has kicked in and I pretty much feel hungover all the time {sans the booze fun}. The hotel was a total spring break party hotel with smoking in the lobby and booze a plentiful, both smells of which make me ill. Beats bumpin and someone on the pool microphone 24/7 hindered my afternoon naps- but I'm certain the vacation isn't tailored to pregnant people so it's all good. It was really great to spend time with family.

In-Laws

Bahama-Mama-To- Be

View from our hotel room

Night out on the town

Rainbow on the last day

missed this face, happy to be home!

XOXO,

Andi

It feels like today, I know it feels like today. I'm sure it's the one thing that's missin, the one thing I'm wishin, the last sacred blessin'. It feels like today....it feels like today! -Rascal Flatts

Today!! Today!! We got to see our little bean (sac + yolk) today!! I mean, the 3 home pregnancy tests and the 3 beta blood tests all positive, but STILL, seeing is believing people!! For us, that really hit home today. We had our first U/S to make sure the embryo implanted into the uterus like it was supposed to and to also find out if it is ONE or TWO beans (since we transferred two embryo). We would have been happy as clams to have twins, but are definitely relieved that it's ONE! 

Being in the NICU I see so many multiples there growing the extra time that's necessary, and coupled with dealing with the stresses of infertility for two years, we are thankful to have our one bean! I'm not sure this bod could handle carrying two and the stresses of preparing for that. Watch the joke be on me because they said sometimes the second can hide for a few more weeks before showing up, ha! I've truly felt from the get go in my heart of hearts it was one. We are SO HAPPY to have that confirmed today. Next Thursday we'll get to hear the heartbeat!! Just thinking of that sound brings tears to my face & joy to my heart. How cool is this? Every step of this pregnancy is just such a blessing and I thank God every second of every day for blessing us with this miracle. 

Peep this sac, eh? {because how many times can you get away with saying that}

xoxo,

Andi

"I've got Sunshine, on a cloudy day, when it's cold outside, I've got the month of MAY".....

10 days ago, we found out that we ARE PREGNANT!! And it's pretty much all I've been thinking about ever since. We are so so so thankful, grateful, blessed, and just OVERJOYED to be able to say those words. "I'm pregnant... I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant", never gets old :) I cannot tell you {although if you have been in the loop with this blog you already know} how ready I am to be a Momma and shout these words from the rooftops. Of course it's still very early in our pregnancy so we wont be sharing this publicly, next to family and closest friends until Thanksgiving or later. So please keep it mums the word outside of the blog-o-sphere.  Now that my parents know & we will be telling Blair's family during our Bahama family vaca next week, I feel I can at least post here on how it all went down. I mean who doesn't want to know how I told everyone the long awaited great news? That's the best part of finding out & always the first question I ask everyone. So, without further adiu....

The HPT

Let me just say IVF'rs out there, when they tell you not to take a home pregnancy test and wait for your Beta blood test 14 days post ovulation? Listen. I definitely caused myself a bit more stress than necessary by deciding to take a test at home when my bestie Steph was in town {just in case I wanted to commit suicide to follow}. I woke up the morning of 9/5, pee on the test and proceed to stare at it the entire wait. After about 20 seconds, that of which felt like 5 mins, I FREAK OUT, snap a pic of the single line and send it to Blair and say "omg I'm going to puke, it's negative". I then walk upstairs to wake up Steph holding the test and by the time I get to her saying, "it's negative, omg it's negative" she grabs it and says "ummmm, no my dear, that's a line. It's faint, but it's there",  Rule #2 of HPT's (especially ones that are taken 6 days before your missed period) give them the FULL 3-5 mins to process before you lose your mind. I was so shocked and in disbelief that Steph had to google 'positive pregnancy tests' and 'negative pregnancy tests' to show me that it was in fact positive. She texted her husband, our friend Alex in Germany & they all said "Congrats!! That's a positive". Ummm, what? A positive? I don't even know what that means. Total shock. I think I looked at that test 100x (and now two other tests a week later 100x).  I then called my RE and told them I cheated, and took the HPT and asked if I could come in that day for my Beta. I went in and found out later that day that yes, I was in fact pregnant but that the number was on the lower end. This then made me freakout and wonder if it was a chemical pregnancy. The number has to double in 48 hours, and then double again in another 48 hours to confirm that this is in fact a valid pregnancy. Talk about nervewracking?!! See, the things you don't have to worry about when you actually pee on a stick once you're late, and then finally get into your OB a few weeks later. IT. WAS. NERVEWRACKING to say the least. I don't think I've prayed so hard, and relied on my close friends to pray hard for me in my entire life. I cannot possibly feel any more grateful to my support group for sending up all the love, encouragement, positive energy and prayers. It's so true, it takes a team to get through this journey. Ok, back to the story. Meanwhile, Blair had no idea I went to the doc to get the Beta test to confirm and still thought that the test had only one line (he was at work, and teaches so doesn't have ready access to his phone all the time). By the time it was confirmed that day, I wanted to tell him and celebrate this win, even if there were still tests that needed to be doubled. Here's the tests with all the 48 hour doubling lines-- they went from 22 to 50 to 110. For 11 days post transfer and 17 days past ovulation, my numbers are just fine. Turns out it's not the number that matters (high end or low end) it's just that they are doubling. Some are early implanters and some are later. Some women have high HCG numbers and some lower. It's alllll good. 

13, 15, and 17 days past ovulation --all prior to even being "late"

How I Surprised B

I volunteer on Friday's in the NICU at Children's Hospital so off I went to hold my cuties per usual with the plan to surprise B when I got home. My plan was to stop en route home and pick up a bunch of pink and blue balloons to blow up and tie them up in our backyard nature preserve area where we always walk the dogs, workout, and think of/talk about Gram Albright & baby Josie. The area is so peaceful and serene that we really feel connected to our Angels who have passed on, so what better place to tell B that we are expecting a little Angel of our own!? So I parked at the preserve and walked down to tie the balloons in the opening the dogs always run to. I knew it was a safe bet we'd end up there since that's the route they always take. When I walked in the house to tell B "lets take the dogs for a walk", I was flushed and sweating since it was so hot out {I absolutely hate the heat and to be hot} so he's like "Jesus, are you ok? You look burning up". I'm like "Oh, I know, it was so hot in the NICU so I've been ablaze for hours. Lets take the dogs for a walk they are stir crazy & frankly I could blow some steam too". So off we went. I almost got busted as you could see the balloons from our back door {even though they were about 200 yards away} and Blair looked in the distance all puzzled & looked at me at which point I busted out laughing. Luckily, he's not inquisitive and didn't even dig or question why. So we turn the corner, and I had a card written to him with the positive pregnancy test in it and when he looked at me in sheer shock I got to say "Yep, WE'RE PREGNANT"!!! I then proceeded to tell him about the beta, not waiting for the second pink line on the HPT and everything that occurred that day. As you can see, he is thrilled and beaming ear to ear. I will always remember this moment. 

one proud Daddy-to-be right there!

They don't even know what's comin....

J.O.Y my friends!

How We Surprised My Parents

My Mom has been working very hard to once and for all finish her Bachelors degree. She's dabbled at it throughout the years and due to difficulty finding a job when she was laid off a few years ago, she decided to knock it out. We're very proud of her! Not only did she finish, she graduated with honors and all the bells and whistles because frankly the woman doesn't do ANYTHING halfway. She would study for HOURS upon HOURS and argue any grade that was less than an A+ so she worked her little tail off to get it. She walks next Sunday for her diploma and B and I wont be there for it, sadly, because we have our Albright Family Vaca to the Bahamas that was already planned. So, we planned a nice little Sunday day for Mom in Yellow Springs. This time of year is beautiful there as the acreage upon Tecumseh Land Trust is filled with gigantic Sunflowers that are in full bloom. So we went to Tradewinds which is a delicious restaurant to give her her grad gifts. Once of the grad gifts that my nephew Isaac and I "picked out together" was the big reveal to Mom. We wanted to make the day about her of course, but what's better than finding out you're going to have another Grandbaby?! :) She was SO SURPRISED and bawled in shock-- it was great. We spent the day at the sunflower fields and fresh farmers market to follow. 75 and sunny on the happiest of days!

"Auntie's Pregnant!! Only Grandbaby Expiring May, 2015"

One excited gang right there!

Yellow Springs!

He Lubb his Uncle Blair!

My sweetie beatie

I have a creative little trick up my sleeve that I hope goes off without a hitch next week for Blair's family reveal! I had a cover up made that says "BAHAMA MAMA-TO-BE" that I'm going to throw on for our first day at the pool & see how many of the 8 of them figure out the good news! :)

HOLY CRAP, IM PREGNANT! yay!! Thank you again for all the prayers, love and support! Keep em' coming for a healthy babe and pregnancy. Now, Shhhhhhh.



xoxo,
Andi

What nobody tells you about post Egg Retrieval - IVF

Now that I've made it to the other side of Egg Retrieval, I just want to take a moment to list the things that NOBODY tells you about what's going to happen post retrieval & how you'll REALLY feel. Ffffffff....

1. You will be more constipated than you've ever been in your life. 

Start taking Colace days BEFORE retrieval. I haven't had, ehhmm, "success" yet with my upped fiber, Colace & mass fluid drinking, but I hear when I do finally do make it to the Loo, it will be the worst experience of my life. "Imagine your vagina falling out of your body" was what one friend told me. Fun! Cant wait!

2. "Your ovaries will be sore". 

Misconception people.  Truth is, they will feel like grapefruits that have Charlie Horses shooting through them. It hurts to roll over, stand up straight and walk when you have a grapefruit in your body sloshing around in anger. Keep in mind they poked and prodded around in there for 15-30 mins, your ovaries  won't be just sore, they will HATE YOU. You will be more sore than the lame Tylenol you are allowed to take will warrant. 

But seriously, I think my ovaries may look this angry right now!

3. Fluids, fluids and MORE fluids. 

G2, Coconut Water, Water. I could literally have filled the deep end of a pool in fluids that I've drank the past 6 days & I'm still going strong {I was told fluids help increase chances of implantation, so at least it isn't all for nothing}! It does help drain everything and make you feel a bit better in the bloat department though so that's a plus.

4. The Progesterone in Oil shots Intramuscular? I cant even describe the pain ya'll. 

All of the injections, meds, retrieval, grapefruit ovary pain, etc- none of it adds up to these shots. This is def the worst part of IVF. Blair has to inject this thick oil intramuscular every morning for the next month +. Think your sorest workout (the pain/ache that is so bad you can't roll over, sit or walk up stairs? Yea, that one). Where it hurts so good/bad to massage that you could gag/cry/orgasm? That's the only way to describe it. It's hands down been the worst part of this entire experience. On top of the pain and soreness in my butt & hips, he leaves the house at 4:45am so that's when I have to get up to take it. Doesn't get much worse than that folks!! Well, the other option is vaginal suppositories which you have to wear a pad with b/c of all the mess that comes out-- so maybe that's worse--but honestly, I'm not sure. I may gladly trade these PIO shots in for those.

5. Day 2 Post Retrieval will be the worst day (yesterday for me). 

I figured right after retrieval or even the next day would be the most sore but for me, that was yesterday. Maybe it's because I wasn't posted up resting like I should have been the day after ER b/c I felt well, but I paid for it yesterday. So don't panic and look up everything you can find on Google search regarding IVF experiences that will only make you MORE anxious like I did. Just know that it's normal to feel worse a few days after before you feel better. Luckily I woke up feeling much better today.

Next to that, I feel FANTASTIC! :) Hey-- I can't always be a ray of sunshine about this process. It's hands down the hardest thing I've ever gone through & I will happily put this experience in my 'ERASE FROM MEMORY' file. I give so much credit to women who actually go through IVF cycles multiple times to conceive. I'm strong, but I'm not that strong. Those out there who've done this over & over? You're truly my heroes. I can't even imagine. {shudders} 

Because somehow.... YOU CAN, and YOU DO!

xoxo,

Andi